NHL ROUNDUP: Nashville's Rinne picks up shutout in win over Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) — Pekka Rinne made 29 saves for his first shutout in more than a year to lead Nashville to a 2-0 win over Chicago.

Mike Fisher and Gabriel Bourque scored for Nashville, which won its second straight and improved to 3-1 against Chicago this season.

The Blackhawks outshot the Predators 29-17 and generated ample chances despite playing their second game without Patrick Kane, the team's leading scorer when he was injured against St. Louis on Wednesday. The star forward is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and could miss the rest of the regular season.

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Chicago fell six points behind Western Conference and Central Division leader St. Louis, which defeated Pittsburgh 1-0 earlier on Sunday.

The Blackhawks' Corey Crawford made 15 saves.

DEVILS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Rookie defenseman Jon Merrill set up a second-period breakaway goal by Patrik Elias and scored 32 seconds later to lead New Jersey to a much-needed win over Toronto, sending the struggling Maple Leafs to their fifth straight loss.

Damien Brunner also scored and Cory Schneider had 21 saves as the Devils gave their slim playoff hopes a boost by winning for the second time in six games.

Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel scored for the Maple Leafs, who saw embattled goaltender James Reimer give up three goals on 10 shots in less than 22 minutes of action.

The skid ties Toronto's longest of the season and it could not have come at a worse with nine games left in the regular season.

BLUES 1, PENGUINS 0

PITTSBURGH (AP) — David Backes deflected a slap shot by Alexander Steen past Marc-Andre Fleury midway through the third period to lift St. Louis over Pittsburgh.

Brian Elliott stopped 33 shots to pick up his fourth shutout of the season as one of the NHL's best defensive teams shut down Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and company.

Fleury made 26 saves for the Penguins but watched Backes' deflection carom off his glove and into the net just after a penalty against Malkin expired.

St. Louis bounced back from a one-sided loss at Philadelphia on Saturday to improve the league's best road record to 23-11-3. Pittsburgh's top-ranked power play went 0-for-5 a day after scoring three times in a win over Tampa Bay.

DUCKS 6, PANTHERS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Corey Perry and captain Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and two assists, and Anaheim snapped its four-game home skid with a victory over Florida.

Patrick Maroon also scored an early goal before leaving the game with a lower-body injury for the Ducks, who pulled within one point of San Jose atop the Pacific Division standings.

Jonas Hiller made 28 saves for Anaheim, which is four points behind Western Conference-leading St. Louis with 11 games left.

Jimmy Hayes and Tomas Fleischmann scored in the second period for the Panthers, who lost all three games on their West Coast road trip by a combined 12-3.

ISLANDERS 2, BLUE JACKETS 0

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Evgeni Nabokov made 41 saves in his 58th NHL shutout, and Travis Hamonic scored a coast-to-coast, power-play goal in the second period and New York dealt the Blue Jackets' playoff hopes a severe blow.

Nabokov got the best of Russian counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky in their third meeting this season and posted his third shutout in this campaign. It was just the Islanders' second regulation win ever over the Blue Jackets.

Columbus, which has dropped to fifth in the Metropolitan Division, has fallen out of an Eastern Conference playoff position with 11 games left. The Blue Jackets lost their second straight game and for the third time in four. This one was particularly costly as the Islanders are far out of postseason contention.

Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Islanders, who bounced back from a 6-0 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday and finished a 2-2 homestand.

CANUCKS 4, SABRES 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Zack Kassian had four assists and Vancouver rallied to beat Buffalo.

The Canucks have consecutive wins for the first time since mid-January. Vancouver pulled within three points of eighth-place Phoenix, and one point of ninth-place Dallas in the race for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Sabres, last in the NHL by a wide margin, suffered their eighth loss in the past 10 games as they squandered an early 2-0 lead.

Brad Richardson, Shawn Matthias, Yannick Weber, David Booth scored for the Canucks. It was Booth's first goal in 33 games.